IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 737 

Condemning and censuring John A. Koskinen, the Commissioner of Internal 

Revenue. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 18, 2016 

Mr. CHAFFETZ submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Condemning and censuring John A. Koskinen, the 

Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 

Whereas the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a subpoena to John A. Koskinen, Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service, on February 14, 2014, 

which compelled him to produce, among other things, ‘‘all 

communications sent or received by Lois Lerner, from 

January 1, 2009, to August 2, 2013.’’; 

Whereas, on March 4, 2014, Internal Revenue Service employees in Martinsburg, West Virginia, magnetically 

erased 422 backup tapes, destroying as many as 24,000 

of Lois Lerner’s emails responsive to the subpoena; 


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•HRES 737 IH 

Whereas Commissioner Koskinen violated a congressional 

subpoena by failing to locate and preserve relevant 

records and by losing key pieces of evidence that were in 

the agency’s possession, and destroyed, on his watch; 

Whereas Commissioner Koskinen betrayed the trust and confidence of the American people as an Officer of the 

United States; 

Whereas Commissioner Koskinen failed to live up to the 

promise he made to the Senate Committee on Finance 

during his confirmation hearing to: ‘‘Be transparent 

about any problems we run into; and the public and certainly this committee will know about those problems as 

soon as we do.’’; 

Whereas, as early as February 2014, and no later than April 

2014, Commissioner Koskinen was aware that a substantial portion of Lois Lerner’s emails were missing and 

could not be produced to Congress, but did not notify 

Congress of any problem until June 13, 2014, when he 

included the information on the fifth page of the third 

enclosure of a letter to the Senate Committee on Finance; 

Whereas Commissioner Koskinen offered under oath a series 

of false and misleading statements utterly lacking in honesty and integrity; 

Whereas, on March 26, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen was 

asked during a hearing before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, ‘‘Sir, are you or are you 

not going to provide this committee all of Lois Lerner’s 

emails?’’ and he falsely answered, ‘‘Yes, we will do that.’’; 

Whereas, on June 20, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen testified 

falsely that ‘‘since the start of this investigation, every 


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•HRES 737 IH 

email has been preserved. Nothing has been lost. Nothing 

has been destroyed.’’; 

Whereas, on June 20, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen testified 

falsely that the Internal Revenue Service had ‘‘confirmed 

that backup tapes from 2011 no longer existed because 

they have been recycled, pursuant to the Internal Revenue Service normal policy’’ and that ‘‘confirmed means 

that somebody went back and looked and made sure that 

in fact any backup tapes that had existed had been recycled.’’; 

Whereas, on June 20, 2014, Commissioner Koskinen testified 

that the Internal Revenue Service had ‘‘gone to great 

lengths’’ to retrieve all of Lois Lerner’s emails, but in 

fact failed to search disaster backup tapes, Lois Lerner’s 

Blackberry, the email server, backup tapes for the email 

server, and Lois Lerner’s temporary replacement laptop, 

which the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration subsequently found to contain more than 1,000 of 

Lerner’s emails; 

Whereas Commissioner Koskinen’s false statements delayed 

and otherwise interfered with congressional investigations 

into the Internal Revenue Service targeting of Americans 

based on their political affiliation; and 

Whereas the aforementioned conduct of Commissioner 

Koskinen caused the House of Representatives to lose 

confidence in his ability to administer and supervise the 

execution and application of the internal revenue laws: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That— 

2 (1) the House of Representatives does hereby 

3 censure and condemn John A. Koskinen for a patVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 May 19, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR737.IH HR737

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•HRES 737 IH 

1 tern of conduct while Commissioner of Internal Rev2 enue that is incompatible with his duties and incon3 sistent with the trust and confidence placed in him 

4 as an officer of the United States; and 

5 (2) it is the sense of the House of Representa6 tives that John A. Koskinen, Commissioner of Inter7 nal Revenue, should— 

8 (A) immediately resign from office, and if 

9 he does not so resign, the President should re10 move him from office; and 

11 (B) be required to forfeit all rights to any 

12 annuity for which he is eligible under chapter 

13 83 or chapter 84 of title 5, United States Code. 

Æ 


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